Chlorine is produced almost entirely by electrolytic methods, primarily from aqueous solutions of alkali metal chlorides. In the electrolysis of brines, chlorine is produced at the anode, and hydrogen, together with an alkali metal hydroxide, such as sodium or potassium hydroxide, at the cathode. As the anode and cathode products must be kept separate, many cell designs have been developed. These designs have generally utilized either a diaphragm, or a mercury intermediate electrode to separate the anolyte and catholyte compartments.
In the diaphragm process, brine is fed continuously into the electrolytic cell and flows from the anode compartment through an asbestos diaphragm into the catholyte compartment which contains, for example, an iron cathode. To minimize back-diffusion and migration, the flow rate is always such that only part of the salt is converted. The hydrogen ions are discharged from the solution at the cathode, forming hydrogen gas and leaving hydroxyl ions. This catholyte solution, which contains sodium hydroxide and unchanged sodium chloride, is evaporated to obtain the sodium hydroxide. In the course of the evaporation the sodium chloride precipitates, is separated, redissolved, and sent back into the electrolytic cell. The function of the diaphragm is to maintain the level of concentration of alkali, to minimize the diffusional migration of hydroxyl ions into the anolyte and to maintain separation of hydrogen and chlorine. The diaphragm should also have minimal electrical resistance.
In the mercury electrode process, the cation, after discharge, forms an alloy or amalgam with mercury. The amalgam flows or is pumped to a separate chamber in which it is allowed to undergo galvanic reaction, most often with water, to form hydrogen and a comparatively strong sodium hydroxide solution containing almost no sodium chloride.
The diaphragm process is inherently cheaper than the mercury process, but as the former process does not provide chloride-free alkali, additional processing steps are necessary to purify and concentrate the alkali.
Substitution of an ion-exchange membrane material for the diaphragm has been proposed. Numerous membrane materials have been suggested. For example, membranes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,636,851; 2,967,807; 3,017,338; and British Patent Nos. 1,184,321 and 1,199,952.
Such membranes are substantially impervious to hydraulic flow. During operation, brine is introduced into the anolyte compartment wherein chlorine is liberated. Then, in the case of a cation permselective membrane, sodium ions are transported across the membrane into the catholyte compartment. The concentration of the relatively pure caustic produced in the catholyte compartment is determined by the amount of water added to this compartment from an external source, and by migration of water, in the cell, i.e. osmosis and/or electro-osmosis. While operation of a membrane cell has many theoretical advantages, its commercial application to the production of chlorine and caustic has been hindered owing to the often erratic operating characteristics of the cells. A number of disadvantages have been present when using these membranes, including a relatively high electrical resistance, poor permselectivity and oxidative degeneration.
In membrane-type fuel cells, a fuel, such as hydrogen or a material which decomposes to hydrogen, is oxidized in an oxidation zone or chamber giving up electrons to an anode. The hydrogen ions formed migrate by means of an ion-exchange resin to the reduction zone or chamber where they combine with oxygen gas from an oxidant reduced at the cathode. Water, which contains a minor amount of a peroxide by-product, is discharged from the cell. Thus, both material and electrical charge balances are maintained as electrons flow from the anode to the cathode. This electron flow can be utilized to provide useful electrical energy. Numerous types of membranes have been proposed for use in fuel cells including polymers of .alpha., .beta., .beta.-trifluorostyrene (U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,366) and copolymers of trifluorovinyl sulfonic acid (British Pat. No. 1,184,321).
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved cation permselective membrane for use in chlor-alkali cells and fuel cells which has a low electrical resistance and a high resistance to hydroxyl migration. It is a further object to provide a membrane which is particularly resistant to oxidative degradation, particularly in chlorine and peroxide environments.
It is a still further object to provide chlor-alkali cells of the diaphragm type with improved electrical properties and which prevent chloride contamination of the catholyte material. And it is an object to provide improved fuel cells of the ion-exchange membrane type.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a novel method for the preparation of membranes and the use of such membranes in electrochemical cells. Further objects will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the following detailed specification and the appended claims.